The Carbon Price – Great Marketing Opportunity for Small Business

Jean McIntyre

Love

Jean McIntyre talks about how smart small businesses can use the opportunity of the introduction of the Carbon Price on July 1 to really highlight their environmental credentials to the market.

By Jean McIntyre

Well, Mr Abbot and the Coalition are doing a damn fine job of peddling to the public about the alleged huge impact the Carbon Price will have on households.

They are already gearing many businesses up to start charging much higher prices on everything – to be blamed of course on the carbon price.

A few things are definitely true.  Yes, the price of some things will go up.  Yes, some businesses that currently benefit from cheaper products created by companies that have little regard for their impact on the environment – will suffer.  Polluters will pay and people that buy from polluters will pay.  And yes, those businesses will likely try to pass on their increased costs to their consumers.

So, you may ask, how could this be of benefit to small businesses?

Innovate on the environment

The great thing about being a small business is that you can easily choose (and quickly change) your suppliers, your consumption habits and your practices to be much more environmentally responsible.

There are a few programmes available to help small businesses to get on board with smart enviro practices.  Click here to see what the ACT Government has to offer.

If you are able to make significant changes to your business, you’ll find that three things will happen:  first,  you’ll reduce your costs over time (by buying from suppliers unencumbered by the carbon price); second, you may gain carbon credits which you may at some time in the future be able to trade – at the very least you’ll contribute positively to the environment and third, people will start to take note and choose your business over others that don’t have such practices.

The easiest way to limit your exposure to the carbon price is to buy from suppliers who don’t pollute or who don’t buy from polluters.

Tony Abbot Creates an Opportunity for Business

There’s no doubt about it.  Mr Abbot has the general population running scared.  People are walking around with furrowed brows – waiting for the cost of living to become unmanageable.

Come first of July, people will be paying very close attention to prices and on the lookout for businesses that put them up.

This is your opportunity – if you have taken action to improve your environmental practices – including procurement – for your business, you will be able to declare that you have NO CARBON PRICE INCREASES and that you are an environmentally responsible business.  If it works for Coles and Woolworths it can work for you.

There will be no time like right now to establish your environmental credentials and reputation in the market.

What are you waiting for?

So my advice is to get on with it.  Take the next few days and weeks to review all your suppliers, put in place better waste management strategies, work on saving energy and water and – well – get out and plant some trees :).

The reward should be new and loyal customers and a reputation as good corporate citizens.

I’d love to hear about what are your plans for your business to benefit from the Carbon Price.

Jean Mc

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Marketing the YouTube Way

Jean McIntyre talks about how small business people can use YouTube to get their message out and attract attention to their website.

By Jean McIntyre ( Marketing Angels)

Last year I posted on 5 things small business owners can do over the slow period to boost their business.  One of those was to make a YouTube video.  This month I’d like to explore that a bit because it’s a lot of fun and can be a great tool for your business.

So here’s my ideas on what you could do on YouTube:

1. Get someone you know to write a song about your business and how great it is, get your staff and some customers together to sing it and record it with a video camera.  Get some free online editing software and add your logo, credits and some key messages on the end.
2. Record yourself working on your computer doing whatever you do (writing a training program, designing a logo, entering bookkeeping data, preparing a tax return).  Record a commentary over the top about the key steps in the process – of course with your branding attached.
3. Identify 5 tips in your area of expertise and record a video of you with a whiteboard – going through the 5 tips and explaining them in detail.  Tip: if you are going to record yourself wear a nice suit or dress, do your hair and makeup so you look your best.
4. Think of something you are expert at (let’s say it’s staff recruitment), write a script about it and hold (and film) a puppet show about it.  You can get your family or your staff to make some really interesting puppets and nice backdrops.

Those are the cheap ways to get on You Tube.  Of course if you have some resources to put into it you can get a short video professionally produced and put it up.

A warning about both options though,  people love to share videos – particularly of people doing interesting things.  But if your video is just a film version of your marketing material – trust me – people won’t view it or comment on it and certainly won’t email or re-post it for others to view.

The way to get it shared online is to make it intersting.  Videos that are funny, quirky, controversial or tug at the heart (or purse) strings will more easily get traction on YouTube.

So get to it.

Nothing to stop you from sitting in front of your webcam and giving it a go.  Don’t forget though to put a link to your website on your video so people can find you.  Also use the tools on YouTube to post it to Facebook, Twitter, your blog and any other social media sites you are involved with.

I’d be really pleased to see some links from readers to videos they’ve put on You Tube.

Jean Mc

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Even more branding and design – get your tips here…

We’re still disseminating some of our knowledge to prospective and current clients through email campaigns at the moment. Those on our lists will be getting regular emails with tips on design and branding issues pertinent to small and medium business.

You can find the latest from the Luxgraphicus website.

So that Canberra Small Business Blog readers don’t miss out, I’ll be posting bundled sets of tips here in my regular spot.

Please make comment or feedback on anything you find interesting, confusing, in need of more detail or otherwise worthy of comment. I look forward to developing a dialogue over the coming weeks and months.

7 tips on website management

1. If design is not your profession, hire a professional.
2. Make sure your website looks like all your other marketing material (follow your brand rules).
3. Make regular updates to your site. (clients and search engines like this)
4. Check your statistics and title tags. (some easy SEO here. That’s Search Engine Optimisation!)
5. Use a local (Australian) and reliable host.
6. Learn how to use the sites CMS. (Content Management System)
7. Use your key marketing messages to direct your visitors to where you want them to go.

7 tips on taming your designer (or getting the most from your designer)

1. Brief your design professional on your audience and messages.
2. Let them offer options and ask them why these options will work.
3. Provide real deadlines. (not just asap, or before lunch!)
4. Provide feedback and amendments promptly. (so they still remember the job. It may even still be up on their screen!)
5. Define the scope of your task in the briefing. (this will allow for costs to be estimated up-front)
6. Provide feedback based on the original briefing scope and direction.
7. Don’t rely on them to spell correctly! (proof read carefully)

5 tips on electronic publishing

1. Save on print costs with on-demand printing from PDF.
2. Apply your brand to everything inc. emails, blogs, PDF downloads, etc…
3. Make your reports available as PDF downloads from your website.
4. Send your brochures or fliers to clients as PDF’s by email.
5. Ask your design professional to make them interactive too!

 

See you next time, and remember, the best businesses are watching their branding!

Brian Miller
Creative Director
Luxgraphicus Design Agency

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Still more branding and design – get your tips here…

We’re still disseminating some of our knowledge to prospective and current clients through email campaigns at the moment. Those on our lists will be getting regular emails with tips on design and branding issues pertinent to small and medium business.

You can find the latest from the Luxgraphicus website.

So that Canberra Small Business Blog readers don’t miss out, I’ll be posting bundled sets of tips here in my regular spot.

Please make comment or feedback on anything you find interesting, confusing, in need of more detail or otherwise worthy of comment. I look forward to developing a dialogue over the coming weeks and months.

10 tips on re-newing your brand for growth

1. If design is not your profession, hire a professional.
2. Research your audience.
3. Ask, why re-brand?
4. Brief your design professional on your messages and audience.
5. Consider a wide range of options.
6. Let go of previous solutions.
7. Package your “stuff” (visual collateral) to keep costs under control.
8. Use the change to promote your business more, or differently.
9. Plan to phase out ALL old material.
10. Ask your design professional for a set of rules for application to ALL your “stuff” (visual collateral).
11. Ask your design professional for an ongoing review of your branding.

(oops, that’s eleven!)

5 tips on email marketing management

1. Keep your emails short and fun.
2. Allow unsubscribes.
3. Make your emails look like all your other marketing material (follow your brand rules)
4. Use HTML emails (they look better and nearly everyone can see them).
5. Track opens and click throughs on links.
6. Build your database with online subscription web forms.

(still having trouble counting!)

 

See you next time, and remember, the best businesses are watching their branding!

Brian Miller
Creative Director
Luxgraphicus Design Agency

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More branding and design – get your tips here…

We’re still disseminating some of our knowledge to prospective and current clients through email campaigns at the moment. Those on our lists will be getting regular emails with tips on design and branding issues pertinent to small and medium business.

You can also follow these tips regularly on the Luxgraphicus blog.

So that Canberra Small Business Blog readers don’t miss out, I’ll be posting bundled sets of tips here in my regular spot.

Please make comment or feedback on anything you find interesting, confusing, in need of more detail or otherwise worthy of comment. I look forward to developing a dialogue over the coming weeks and months.

7 tips on design for start-up businesses

If design is not your profession, hire a professional.
Research your audience.
Brief your design professional on your messages and audience.
Get your brand design done before your website, business card and brochure.
Plan ALL your requirements, then get some done now.
Get the others done later by the same designer.
Ask your design professional for an ongoing review of your branding.

10 tips on re-freshing your brand

If design is not your profession, hire a professional.
Keep all your “stuff” (visual collateral) consistent.
Look to “modernise” your logo (keep it’s shape and intent, change its feel and appeal)
Add some new graphics and text treatments
Compliment your standard colour palette with a few new ones.
Choose a small set of iconic images for your marketing and promotion
Change the format (shape & size) of some material.
Change the delivery method of some material.
Use a quality paper stock for your key material.
Ask your design professional for an ongoing review of your branding.

See you next time, and remember, the best businesses are watching their branding!

Brian Miller
Creative Director
Luxgraphicus Design Agency

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Marketing – How to Not Be Everything to Everybody

Helping Canberra small businesses to Get Smarter Marketing

By Jean McIntyre (Marketing Angels)

Jean Mc talks about how it’s important to identify your business’ unique selling proposition so that it’s clear to your most lucrative market that yours is the best business to serve their needs.

I had coffee today with the lovely Maria Taylor from The District Bulletin and we talked a lot about marketing – how advertising fits in to a marketing strategy but also how businesses need to really get clear on exactly who they are marketing to.

I’ve said it many times before but one can’t say it too much.  Marketing is all about understanding markets and having the right messages that appeal to the markets that are most lucrative to your business.  It sounds simple but most businesses get it wrong.

Well – Not That Simple

It is simple but there’s a rub.  Business people can’t help but think of all the possible sales they might get and they don’t want to miss out on any possible sale.  From a marketing perspective that’s just the wrong approach.

It’s true that there may simply be billions of people out there that, should they hear about your business, might be inclined to buy from you.  Trouble is – that getting to them all is prohibitively costly even with the advent of the internet.

The other thing that marketing is all about is resources.

A marketing strategy is simply a plan that determines exactly where are the best places to spend your money to access the people that are MOST LIKELY to want your products and buy them.  You choose a market according to how well your business can serve their needs and how easily you can communicate your messages with them.

What Determines Your Market

There are a few parameters that you should consider when establishing where your marketing dollar will be spent.  This is usually determined by your resources (people, skills, experience) and limitations (money and accessibility).  There’s just no point in choosing a market that has loads of money to spend if it’s impossible for you to communicate with it.

Markets generally need to meet four criteria: they must be sustainable; they must be able to be clearly identified and measured; they must be able to be reached and the must be responsive to your offering.

Here are just some of the more common characteristics that businesses can use to determine their market.

Geography

The extent to which geography determines your market depends on the type of business you have.  If your business relies on interaction with people then you will generally be limited to the area to which your people can travel.

If for example your business is soccer coaching and your customers are mums and dads that have to drive their kids from school to soccer – then its likely that you’ll limit your market to a small geographic area like Tuggeranong or Woden.

If this was the case then it would be silly to spend money on advertising in the Sydney Morning Herald and you would likely make better use of local networks to promote your business.  Of course if you franchise your business then it’s a different kettle of fish but still – each local area will have the same considerations.

Age

In marketing we call them ‘Cohorts’.  It’s not the only way you can break up age in to markets but it’s the best known approach.  You’ve heard them:  ‘Baby Boomer’, ‘Generation X’, ‘Generation Y’ etc.  Over time the things that happen in history, politics and society give particular age groups shared experiences that add together to affect their values, likes, dislikes and opinions.  These things impact on the behaviour – in particular spending habits of particular groups that make them good prospects for certain companies.

Of course each individual in the group is unique – but there are characteristics that are generally shared that make targetting the whole age group an efficient use of resources.

Here’s a description of Baby Boomers that I love from Marketing Textbook ‘Essentials of Marketing’ (Summers et al 2003 pg 438).

“…baby boomers are concerned with their children, their jobs and their retirement.  Nevertheless, some things will never change: they are a little selfish about their leisure time, a little careless about the way they spend their money, remain suspicious of the status quo, and they will always love rock ‘n’ roll.”

If this looks like a market that your business can serve you can use what you know about them to shape your messages and find the places that they’d be likely to congregate (in person and online).   Thinking again about advertising – if, for example, your business sold camping equipment – then you might think about creating messages about enjoying your leisure and your marketing might include advertising in a retirement magazine and networking with over 55’s groups to get your message out.

You wouldn’t advertise at a Raiders game.  Just because it’s possible that SOME of your market might be there – you are paying big money to deliver a message to a huge audience most of which isn’t interested in what you have to say.

Income

Of course – there’s no point in marketing to a group of people that can’t afford or aren’t willing to pay the price you want to get for your products.

The Australian Bureau of Statistics has really good figures on how many people are in each income quintile (incomes are divided into 5 groups) and how much they spend on each category of product each week.  Using this you can establish the size of your market, determine how much of this market you are capable of capturing and how much you can earn from it.  This will help you establish what your marketing budget should be to reach them.

Other Segmentation Bases

In marketing we call breaking up the market into smaller more managing groups ‘segmentation’ and the things I have described are what we call ‘bases’ or characteristics.

There are other segmentation bases that are frequently used such as psychographics (personality, values, livestyles, motivations); family life cycle; product use frequency and benefits.  Each of these are appropriate ways to choose a market for your business to serve.

Get Choosy

When it comes down to it – business people need to get a bit fussy about who they choose to market to.

Stop thinking about those trillions of dollars you could earn from the billions of people out there – you are NEVER going to be able to reach them all – not with your small budget.

Start thinking about which markets will give you the best return on your marketing investment and start going after them with passion, commitment and your unique style.

I’d love to hear about what characteristics you’ve used to choose your market and why.

Jean Mc

References:

Summers J, Gardiner M, Lamb C, Hair J, McDaniel C;  ‘Essentials of Marketing’ 2003, Thompson Publishing Victoria Australia

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Branding and design – get your tips here…

We’re disseminating some of our knowledge to prospective and current clients through email campaigns at the moment. Those on our lists will be getting regular emails with tips on design and branding issues pertinent to small and medium business.

You can also follow these tips regularly on the Luxgraphicus blog.

So that Canberra Small Business Blog readers don’t miss out, I’ll be posting bundled sets of tips here in my regular spot.

Please make comment or feedback on anything you find interesting, confusing, in need of more detail or otherwise worthy of comment. I look forward to developing a dialogue over the coming weeks and months.

7 tips on why branding?

1. Your client’s perception of your business is based on how they see you.
2. They “see” you at every contact point with your business.
3. This impression is created in a second.
4. Their perception is often unconscious.
5. This perception is often not a considered decision.
6. To your client, their perception IS reality.
7. When this perception is positive, potential sales become clients, and clients become advocates.

Why are the best businesses watching their branding?

5 tips on branding your business

1. If design is not your profession, hire a professional.
2. Review your brand and it’s purpose regularly (every 6 months).
3. Apply brand rules across ALL aspects of your business.
4. Apply brand rules ALL the time.
5. Be consistent and stick to a single solution.

5 tips on managing your brand

1. Review your brand regularly (every 6 months).
2. Follow a checklist to make sure everything is considered.
3. Create a system of rules.
4. Make sure everyone follows the rules.
5. Keep all your “stuff” (visual collateral) safe and retrievable.

See you next time, and remember, the best businesses are watching their branding!

Brian Miller
Creative Director
Luxgraphicus Design Agency

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So your business is unique – just like everyone else!

By Jean Mc (Marketing Angels)

Jean Mc talks about how the secret to business success is being different.  But being different is only a valuable asset if it’s in a way that’s meaningful to your target market.

I had a preliminary meeting a couple of weeks ago with an eager gentleman who is wanting to break into the ACT Solar Power market.  He was bemoaning the fact that the NSW Government canned the solar feed in tariff.  No doubt he would now be cursing Minister Corbell for doing the same thing here.

The problem I see with this market (and many others that are fad based) is that they all want to claim a major share of the market through offering cheaper prices.  “Ah but we offer a quality product” he said.  “That’s what makes us different”!

There are two really big problems with this approach:

1. Quality costs money and so you can’t be cheap.  Everything that we equate with quality: better materials, improved service, speedy resolution – all cost either time or money that – if you want to stay in business – you’ll have to pass on to your customers.  The fascinating thing is that consumers who want quality understand this and are prepared to pay for it.  So why then would they opt for a campaign around being cheap?  In the absence of any other way to tell the difference between providers, customers will just ring aroung for a few quotes and go with the cheapest.
2. THAT’S WHAT EVERYBODY SAYS!!!  Truly – when the market is hot like this – the easiest thing to do is to find out what your competitors charge and just charge less.  If you’ve got a big bucket of money behind you and can stick it out – this is a sure-fire way to get rid of the ‘fly-by-nighters’ and reduce your competition.  In this case the only people who win are the consumers that pay much less money. But at what cost?

Step 1 – Polling is Essential

Business is Like Politics

Political parties win elections by appealing (more than the opposition) to the masses but (with some parties moreso than others) there are some lines they won’t cross to get elected.  To do this they poll endlessly to find out what’s important in the electorate and what they can do (within their beliefs and value systems) to satisfy electors.

Being in business is not unlike this.

Before you even start in business you should conduct lots of research about your target market.  Things like what is important to them (eg: family, wealth, the environment); what activities do they engage in (eg: community and sporting groups, social activities); what media do they consume (eg: internet, print, television, radio); what are they really looking for in life?

The more you know about your target market the better you’ll be at creating products that really meet their needs (or policies if you are in Government).  You’ll know how best to communicate with them and how you can build a long term meaningful relationship with them that benefits both them and you.

We usually choose a business to be in that we have special skills in or that interests us or suits our value systems.  So what we are prepared to do to meet customers’ needs is bound by these parameters.

Step 2 – Educate your Market

Sometimes, what we offer customers is more likely to meet (what we call in marketing) “latent needs”.  That is, needs that they don’t yet know they  have.  It means that they haven’t yet thought that they have a problem that you can resolve.

Using the solar power example – there are still people who haven’t really engaged in thinking about putting solar panels on their rooves.  So what is the point in telling them that you do it cheaper than everybody else?

Like politicians , we can do a lot to educate the market on how what we can offer, meets their needs better than our opposition.

Understanding your market and how it thinks can help you describe your offering in a way that connects with them and their personal goals.

Imagine for a moment that you have found out through research that your market is concerned with the rising cost of living.  Do you think they would be more interested in a low cost installation or a solution that invests in lowering the costs of power for their family well into the future.

Step 3 – Tell Your Story

You educate your market through using language that appeals to their values and describes your product as clearly meeting their needs.

Communicate your key messages based on what you know of your market and its needs and your unique selling proposition to meet these needs.  The market will decide all by itself to buy your products (goods and services).

I’d be interested to hear what it is that makes your business different from your competition and why that’s important to your market.

Jean Mc

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Don’t miss an opportunity to share your message

Jean McIntyre

By Jean McIntyre (Marketing Angels)

Jean McIntyre talks about how to maximise the opportunities your business has to share your key messages in all your communications.

I’ve been doing some work for a local industry association that does a lot of communication with members, Government, industry and other business organisations.  Well, I can’t always be there to supervise all the communication that goes out – but sometimes I discover, after the fact, that a fantastic opportunity to get the message out has just been frittered away.

Good Messages do Magic

Let’s examine what I mean here.

I’ve talked before about key the importance of key marketing messages.  In last weeks post I talked about how your unique selling proposition (I didn’t actually use that term) is what separates you out from your competitors – at the core of this is the messages you give about your business – your promise to the market.

Marketing messages are about recognising needs in potential customers and then explaining how your business will meet those  needs and make them feel better.

The Right Media for Messages

We tend to think about there is a place to deliver your marketing messages.  Places like brochures, the website, advertising etc.  Yes it’s crucial that these things don’t just describe what you will DO for customers but actually communicate what benefits you will deliver for them.

There is a right place – it’s EVERYWHERE YOU COMMUNICATE WITH YOUR MARKET.

The problem is that experts tend to be focused on communicating what it is they have or want customers to DO and tend to forget about the benefits they deliver.

A Missed Opportunity

Let’s look at an example from my industry association.  Here they prepared a letter to be sent out to a new member with a new members pack. (I’ve removed the identifying details but it said:

Thank you for your support of the NAME OF ORGANISATION and WELCOME!

The Executive Director of the ORGANISATION, Mr NAME, will be visiting you in the near future to welcome you to the Association. Prior phone contact will be made with you to check your availability.

Please find enclosed your invoice for membership and a welcome pack.

Kind regards

The Office Manager

 Now, remember that this is the first communication that this new member gets from the organisation.  The first time they get to find out what kind of organisation it is and how it will benefit them.

The organisation is of course focused on the task of sending out the new member kit and letting the member know to expect a visit.  They’ve forgotten that the letter is a personal communication (unlike the brochures that are in the kit) and will be the start of a new and hopefully long term relationship with this member.

In this case – the organisation has recently suffered a hostile takeover attempt from a larger interstate organisation.  It is really important that members understand how the local organisation is best placed to support them on local issues using its local contacts and knowledge.  It is a must that this letter communicate this message.  They want members to read their letter and nod their heads saying “yes that’s right – I’m glad I’ve joined“.

Where to Share

Let’s look at some media that you might not have thought about to communicate your key messages to current, past and potential customes.

In your business letters – yes tell them what you need them to know but also talk about why you are better than the competitors at meeting their needs.

In your billing – it’s pretty easy to slip in a short message about how great you are for them at the bottom of the invoice

In your newsletter – You’d be amazed at how many businesses just report what they’ve been doing and give technical detail without taking the extra step to show how doing this benefits the customer.

On your blog – it’s really important that while waxing lyrical about your area of expertise that you take time out to communicate in the customer’s language about how you improve their life.

In your media releases – yes it has to be newsy to achieve publicity but if you get on TV without getting your key message out you might as well not have bothered to write the release.

In your networking – don’t just tell people what you do – leave them understanding what benefits you’ll deliver to help them

Audit Your Communication

My advice to business people would be to stop and make a list of all the different ways you communicate with your market and ask yourself “are we doing enough in this communication to get out the message of our unique selling proposition”.

The great thing is that your communication is completely under your control and can be a really cost effective way to contribute to your promotion.

Get Help With Getting It Out

Of course if you need help to develop your key messages or to find new ways to communicate them to your market – contact Marketing Angels to sign up for a group marketing workshop or a one on one consultancy.

I’d love to hear about the unique communication methods you’ve used to get your key messages out.

Jean Mc

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How Afraid Should You Be of COMPETITION?

By Jean McIntyre (Marketing Angels)

Is competition something to be feared, ignored or confronted full on.  Jean Mc talks about the nature of business competition and ways that marketers can help businesses deal with this inevitable consequence of success.

I was reading in the Canberra Times on 28th February about the demise of Brand Depot and DFO. Both it seems are in danger of closing and certainly both have seen a mass closedown of tennant stores.  They put it down to both the GFC and development and upgrading of other shopping centres in the region.

Wikipedia defines competiton in economics as: ” the notion of individuals and firms striving for a greater share of a market to sell or buy goods and services.” Surely with words like “individuals”, “striving” and “share” this can only be considered a good thing.

Certainly Wikipedia goes on to say that economist consider competition to be a healthy thing (as did my economics lecturer at UC) because it promotes “consumer soverienty”.  This means that the greater the competition – the more choice and control that consumers have.

Competition is a good thing – really!

It usually means that prices come down which (in a narrow way of thinking) is less good for businesses than it is for consumers.  The good thing for businesses about competition is that it tends to keep us focused on our brand and continually innovating new products and ways of promoting them to keep our place at the top of the market.

In short – when the customer is king then it makes sense for businesses to think about newer and better ways to meet their needs.  That folks is the essence of marketing.

Dealing With Competition

I talk about competition a lot when I go around the Capital Region talking about marketing.  It’s not that easy to understand.

In some ways, your business is in competition with my business and every other business that people might spend money in.  If we agree that consumers (business, Government or household) have a limited amount of money in their pockets to spend – and even less discretionary money to spend – then in this way each business competes with every other for this money.

Plumbers compete with gymnasiums, with supermarkets, with financial planners and with charities for all the money that households have to spend.  This is probably how accountants see it.

How to Have No Competitors

Marketers see it a different way.  Marketers start with fully understanding the needs of the target market (through research) and how your business could best meet them.

A marketing savvy business works out how their unique resources (skills, knowledge, people, technology, experience etc) can be packaged together to meet the needs of the target market in a way that no other business can match.  Promotion of the business then becomes about building a desire in the market to have their needs met in this way.

An example

Mary has a shoe store.  She conducts some research about how her market feels about shoe shopping.  She discovers that her potential customers look forward to shoe shopping as a way to relax and make them feel special.  With a bit more research, staff input and some customer feedback – she develops a ‘Valet Shoe Fitting Experience’ where customers can come and relax, mingle, drink and eat and have a customer care specialist give them individual attention.

Mary found that women in her market were prepared to pay a premium price to have their special needs met in this way.

You might say “but not every woman would find that appealing”.  That is the whole point.  Mary has specifically targeted a small section of women with specific tastes and values and put all her resources into serving them better than every other shoe store.  Of course she did sufficient research to identify whether there were enough women fitting in to this niche group to be able to support her business.

In this way – having created a need for this valet service among her market – Mary  has removed all the other shoe stores from her competition.  She simply has no competitors in this market.

Research is the Key to Removing Competition

If you would like to be like Mary and remove the competition then the place to start is with research.  You need to research these things:

1. Characteristics of your target market (size, income, location, age, spending habits etc)
2. Values of your target market (what’s important to them, what do they put a premium on?)
3. What they need (needs and desires – fears they want to allay)
4. Where are the gaps in the market?  (Who is meeting these needs and who is not – how are they positioning themselves?)

Once you have a good understanding on what the market needs you can then start to develop products (goods and services) that meet their needs better than other businesses and start to eliminate your competition.

Marketing Angels can Help with Research

If you need help to understand what makes your target market tick – contact Marketing Angels for expert help on marketing research.

I’d be interested to hear about your experiences with competition and how you have managed it successfully.

Jean Mc

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